PARIS – James Cameron will appear in the seaside French town of Deauville for this year’s American Film Festival to premiere his latest film, Deepsea Challenge 3D.

The Oscar-winning director also will receive the Fortieth Anniversary Award, as the festival celebrates its birthday this September. Organizers created the award to honor Cameron’s body of work.

“It is fitting that for its 40 years of existence, the Deauville American Film Festival is honoring this outstanding filmmaker, creating the Fortieth Anniversary Award especially for him,” said festival director Bruno Barde.

Cameron will premiere Deepsea Challenge 3D for French audiences at the special ceremony Sept. 13, before its French opening Sept. 17.

"Deepsea Challenge 3D resembles James Cameron in its audacity, its generosity and its commitment to change the spectator's view of the world. Through his work and the emotion it inspires, he has awoken consciences, while at the same time transforming movie-making, taking it to a previously unknown dimension of pleasure,” added Barde.

Deepsea Challenge 3D follows Cameron’s voyage to the Mariana Trench, the world’s deepest point in the world.

Cameron has been filming his underwater explorations since The Abyss and Titanic. Under his Earthship Productions banner, Cameron has made several documentaries about his visits to ship wreckage and to capture footage of the hydrothermal vents in both the Atlantic and the Pacific.

Cameron’s crew spent seven years building the Deepsea Challenger and use a system of 3D digital cameras developed with his partner, engineer Vince Pace; they are currently working on additional film and TV projects about exploration under the Cameron Pace Group banner.